Best Of The Best
ADAMS TWP — She's not all about scoring. She's not all about defense, either.
Mars junior midfielder Ellie Coffield is all about soccer.
“Play hard and handle the roles from box to box,” she said. “I take pride in it.”
Coffield recently was named the recipient of the inaugural 'Moe” Rosensteel Most Outstanding Player Award for WPIAL girls soccer this season.
Kaitlyn “Moe” Rosensteel was a 2019 Ringgold graduate who had accepted a soccer scholarship to West Virginia Wesleyan. She died June 13 after being struck by lightning while on a fishing outing.
The award is presented by the Kaitlyn “Moe” Rosensteel Scholarship Foundation and Pittsburgh Soccer Now. Coffield was among 24 players on the award's nomination list and joined Norwin senior defender Eva Frankovic and North Allegheny junior forward Sarah Schupansky as finalists.
“This is a tremendous honor and Ellie is very deserving of it,” Mars girls soccer coach Blair Gerlach said, “Her offensive and defensive skills are outstanding, but her leadership is what I value most.
“What's unique about this award is that it covers all classifications of WPIAL soccer. I'm excited for her.”
Coffield scored 25 goals and added 30 assists for the Planets, who finished 22-0-1 in winning the WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A championships. Mars scored 131 goals this season while allowing only 10.
I'm so humbled to win this award,” Coffield said. “I know how special it is because I know what Moe stood for.
“To be the first one to represent her family in receiving this honor means the world to me.”
The Rosensteel award is based on skill, leadership and sportsmanship. The panel voting on the award is comprised of WPIAL girls soccer coaches and media members.
Gerlach said Coffield's “work habits” are the keys to her success on the soccer pitch.“She is such a competitor, such a tough kid,” the coach said. “She is tireless at both ends of the field.”Coffield has been playing soccer since age 4.“I love distributing. That's my favorite part of the sport,” she said. “But playing in the midfield, you're constantly involved. You have to do your job and help your teammates all the time.“We succeeded this year mainly because Blair emphasized the team aspect from the start. He said no one was different from everybody else. The freshmen were as important as the seniors and we all bought in.”Coffield played much of the postseason with a broken hand and a fractured cheekbone. She had to wear a shield for a couple of games.She broke her hand in the WPIAL title game.“Winning the state was a big achievement, but I'll most remember the WPIAL championship win because we all wanted that so badly,” Coffield said. “I had a goal and assist in that game, which felt really good.“I have a doctor's appointment about my cheek on Tuesday. I was afraid to schedule it (during the playoffs) because I thought they may not let me play.“It was painful, but my eyes were on the prize. I just played through it,” she added.Also a member of a state championship team in girls basketball at Mars, Coffield is not playing for the Planets this winter.She is committed to the University of Pittsburgh for soccer and wants to concentrate on that sport.“That was a very hard decision,” Coffield admitted. “Basketball has been such a big part of my life and I hate saying goodbye to it. But I feel like it's for the best.”Her parents, Grant and Kelly Coffield, are 1999 Pitt graduates. Her father was a punter on the Panther football team while her mother played on Pitt's volleyball team.“I'm just keeping it in the family, following in their footsteps,” Coffield said.Carrying a 4.3 grade point average at Mars, she plans to major in the medical field.
